No need for much language here. I started these photos around 0830. Despite some rain, conditions were ideal for this loading . . . or engulfing.
Here Dorothy J gently moves the antique barque foot by foot closer to Hamburg.
Combo-Dock III, the engulfer, lies in wait.
Robert IV assists when needed.
Without the zoom, I imagined the gentleman with the yellow helmet to stand by on the helm.
We have 20 meters and closing . . .
With big power on minuscule tolerances, Dorothy J eases her in.
The barque floats gently forward in the hold.
Lines to capstans on the heavy lift ship are doing the work, as the tugs stand by until released from service.
Peking is now engulfed. Time is about 1130. Operations to make fast and secure now begin before they head out into the Atlantic for Germany.
Many thanks to Jonathan Kabak and Jonathan Boulware for the floating platform.
All photos here by Will Van Dorp, who is thrilled to have seen this today.
tugster: a waterblog 
18 comments
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July 14, 2017 at 3:37 pm
alfthurgrate
Fabulous. Thank you. >
July 14, 2017 at 3:48 pm
tugster
Thx for yr comment, Alfthurgrate. I had my first experience on Peking at South Street Seaport Museum back in 2004, in fact, on the first day I volunteered there. At the time, Peking was used for storage at Pier 16. I was asked to go aboard to stow some line. What a fantastic closet, both for its shape and contours and companionways into darkness below, as well as for the miscellany stored there. And then the exhibits in the public spaces . . I read them all and wondered how this barque had survived after all those loads of nitrates around Cape Horn. Some will say . . . “if Peking could talk, what stories she would tell.”
I wish that too, but people can talk and write, and I’d just love to use the comments to this post as tributes to her time in NYC, 42 years of experiences people had. There were also 42 years of folks who likely knew nothing about the Seaport Museum who saw the ship as a backdrop for photos. One of my fondest memories was coming off a night cruise on Pioneer on a summer evening when the tango dancers had taken over the dock. Bowsprite evokes that feeling here with photos and text: https://bowsprite.wordpress.com/tango-on-pier-16/
Any stories?
July 14, 2017 at 4:41 pm
N. S. Martello
Hi Will
Was the Peking sold to someone in Germany?
Nice photos.
Sal
>
July 14, 2017 at 5:25 pm
tugster
Hi Sal– Here’s the German maritime museum that now owns Peking: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://www.stiftung-hamburg-maritim.de/&prev=search
July 14, 2017 at 6:17 pm
Spinaway C
Thanks for the great pictures Tugster. As an Ex Arethusa boy that lives in Australia it’s great to see her going home. Have followed all your blogs about the Peking blog
July 14, 2017 at 6:26 pm
tugster
Thx for writing. I know how important this “school ship” was for the Arethusa boys. I hope you get to see her in Germany in a few years.
July 14, 2017 at 7:56 pm
tugster
For those readers who don’t know the “Arethusa boy” reference, from the 1930s until the 1970s, the barque–then named Arethusa–was a boys’ school in the UK, a boarding school where students slept in hammocks in the ‘tweendecks of the vessel. occasionally, elderly British accented men would appear at pier 16 at SSSM and gaze at “Peking,” unmistakable “Arethusa boys.” Here’s a link: http://www.childrenshomes.org.uk/TSArethusa/
July 14, 2017 at 9:19 pm
Philco63
Great pictures! Thanks for sharing them. I spent a lot of time on Peking, having worked at South Street Seaport Museum from 88-98. Love the ship and was so thrilled to hear she would be moved back to Hamburg for a proper restoration. She deserves it!It was always a great thrill whenever I’d be on Peking and the tide would come in and you could feel the ship move, see the bowsprit change position with the buildings and the FDR drive. And then try to imagine the ship fully loaded and traveling under sail, encountering conditions depicted in Irving Johnson’s “Peking At Sea.” Anyway I am so looking forward to see her fully restored. I’m fully confident the Hamburg group will do right by her!
July 15, 2017 at 12:57 pm
Windjammer Peking Loaded on Combi Dock II for Voyage HomeOld Salt Blog
[…] For more photos of the Peking being loaded aboard the Combi Dock III go to Will Van Dorp’s Tugster blog. […]
July 15, 2017 at 10:19 pm
bowsprite
Wow wow wow.
Amazing. Thank you for catching this! Xoxo
July 16, 2017 at 10:54 am
Marijke
Thanx for those great pictures. I am just 32 so I have no experience with the Peking, but as a child my family used to make holidays at Lübeck Travemünde, what’s the home of the “Passat” today. Since then I am a great fan of the flying P-liners and I can hardly explain how exited I am (in German as my mother language I would). I never thought to see her and know she comes to Hamburg! ❤ I hope I can quit a day at work to drive to Hamburg when she arrives, it's an historical moment and I would like to be a part of it. Greetings from Dortmund, Germany.
Marijke
July 16, 2017 at 11:15 am
tugster
Marijke– I too hope you can take a holiday the day this flying-P comes home. If so please send a pic. Cheers
July 16, 2017 at 11:11 am
mageb
Thank you for taking time to document this wonderful happening.
July 16, 2017 at 2:47 pm
Susan Yamamoto
Thank you for these great photos. We are hoping to see a similar thing happen with the FALLS OF CLYDE here in Honolulu.
July 16, 2017 at 7:28 pm
Of Heavy-Lift and Four-Masted Sailing Ships – MARITIME HAWAI‘I
[…] Combi Dock III and the Peking Saga 3 […]
July 18, 2017 at 2:18 pm
Rugert Heitmann
A wonderful Happening,
A ship coming Home to a place where it was build.
to where it belongs.
Thanks to all the People who made this possible
July 20, 2017 at 12:54 pm
Peter O Toole
as a 20 yr member of Gazela’s volunteer crew, I have a strong empathy for
old sailing ships. Great pix good luck for peking in the future
July 24, 2017 at 1:42 pm
Matt
Peking – as if by a miracle and in the last minute, she survives, this outstanding vessel will be saved and come home. Almost sure to be scrapped, now on the way to her place of birth. Have a safe long journey, brave barque. Thank you all so much, who have contributed and will contribute to save her.